Rod finisher



May 12, 1959 F. C. BEITZ `ROD FINISHER Filed May 31, 1957 IN VEN TOR.

Fran/ 65e/fz BY 'A 'TTORNEY United States Patent ROD FINISHER Frank C. Beitz, New Brunswick, NJ. Application May 31, 1957, Serial No. 662,839

1 Claim. (Cl. 144-2) My invention relates generally to rod-finishers, and specifically to devices for finishing the surface of wooden rods, such as arrow-shafts.

It is among the objects of my invention to provide a device which will give a smooth finish to a rod.

It is further an object of my invention to provide a device which will reduce a rod to chosen size.

It is a further object of my invention is to provide a device which will impart a hard surface to a rod.

It is yet another object of my invention `to provide a device which will compress a rod traversing my apparatus.

A still further object of my invention is to provide a device which will compress an arrow-shaft to a desired selected size, burnish the arrow-shaft to a smooth and attractively lustrous nish, impart a hard surface to an arrow shaft, and render the arrowshaft straight and true.

Yet another object of my inventionis to nish a rod by giving it a burnished hard surface without reducing or altering the weight of the rod.

A still further object of my invention is to finish a rod in such a manner that its straightness or lack of straightness may be modified to suit the desire of the processor.

Yet another object of my invention is to impart moisture resistance to a rod.

These objects and advantages as well as other objects and advantages may be achieved by the method hereinafter set forth and the device illustrated in the drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a side elevational view of a rod-finisher, embodying my invention.

Figure 2 is a longitudinal vertical sectional view of my rod-finisher.

Figure 3 is a sectional view of the sleeve, and

Figure 4 is a longitudinal vertical sectional view of the adaptor.

In the making of shafts for arrows, it is desirable that such shafts be endowed with certain characteristics in order that the arrows shall be durable, easy to use, and have a highly predictable and controllable trajectory in flight. The present invention enables the formation of an arrow shaft which has all of these desirable characteristics as well as numerous other ones.

The arrow-shaft is inserted into a tubular member, having a constriction somewhat smaller in overall diameter than the overall diameter of the arrow shaft. The contact of the rod with the constricted portion rotating at a high rate of speed, causes a compression of the arrow-shaft without shaving off any of the peripheral surface of the arrow-shaft and gives the arrow-shaft a smooth highly polished or burnished appearance. Also the arrow-shaft is reduced to the size of the constriction in the sleeve with a high degree of accuracy. The circumferential density of the arrow-shaft becomes somewhat greater than the interior density of the arrow-shaft. This insures a truer flight. The smoothness or burnished appearance of the shaft reduces the coefficient of friction Nce of the arrow-shafts, and therefore insures greatspeed, due to the absence of this frictional component.

The density of the smooth surface of the arrow shaft makes it relatively impervious to moisture, causes the ordinarily applied lacquers to remain quite uniformly as a surface coating, and eliminates differential absorption of lacquers at various points on the shaft. This might result in inequitable distribution of weight, due to excessive absorption of lacquers, thereby impairing the trueness of the flight of the arrow. Also the wearing qualities of the arrow-shaft are reduced so that the life of the arrow is enlarged. In addition, arrows finished by my rod-finisher, when they break, show a diminished tendency to fracture, but rather shear ol in a blunt manner, thereby substantially reducing the danger of injury to the person.

Referring now to the drawings in detail my rod-finisher provides a base 11 upon which a pair of upstanding supports 12, 12, are formed. These supports are provided with coaxial annular passages 13, 13. Each of the passages is provided with an annular channel 14, a ballbearing 15 is carried by each of the annular channels 14. A lubrication cup 33 supplies lubricant to the bearings 15.

A hollow shaft 16 is provided, having an internal diameter larger than the shaft of any arrow intended to be formed in my rod-finisher. This hollow shaft 16 has applied to it a pair of collars 17, which are secured thereto by the set screws 18. These collars 17 may be also formed integrally as enlargements on the shaft 16. They have annular tracks 10 that form the running surfaces upon which the shaft 16 rotates on the ballbearings 15.

Mounted centrally on the shaft 16 is a pulley 19 which is keyed to the shaft by the set screw 20. It will be seen that the shaft 16 is freely rotatable on the ballbearings 15 and driven by a belt 21, engaged with the pulley 19. Attached to the shaft at each end is an adaptor 22. This adaptor 22 is secured to the shaft 16, by the set screw 23. The adaptor is provided with air holes 24 to aid in the dissipation of heat generated during the course of the finishing operation. The adaptor is provided with an internal shoulder 25, which serves to limit the degree of advancement of the adaptor 22 on to the shaft 16. The rotation of the shaft 16 causes the rotation of the adaptor 22. The adaptor will receive as an insert at its opposite end 26, a tubular tool or sleeve 27, and a similar tubular tool or sleeve 27, is received by the other adaptor 22 engaged with the opposite end of the hollow shaft 16. This tubular tool or sleeve 27 is characterized by having a passage which at once is of internal diameter calculated to receive the rod or shaft freely. Sleeves with different size internal passages may be easily substituted and exchanged. The rod 28, thus enters this entrance, passage or area 29 freely without binding. Formulated at the end of this entrance area 29 is a constriction 30 beyond which the internal diameter of the passage is reduced and defines a reducing passage or zone 31 whose internal diameter is approximately the size to which the shaft 28 is to be reduced. The sleeve 27 is locked to the adaptor by the set screw 32. The reducing passage 31 is preferably transversely uniform throughout its entire length.

The operation of my rod-finisher is as follows:

The driving belt 21 is actuated so that the shaft 16 rotates. The rotating shaft in turn rotates the adaptor 22, which in turn rotates the sleeve 27. The sleeve 27 has been selected which has an entrance passage 29, adapted to freely receive the rod 28. Beyond the constriction 30, the reducing or burnishing area or passage 31 is so dimensioned as to have an internal diameter substantially that of the diameter of the rod 28 which it is desired to produce. A rod 28 is manually inserted .into the entrance passage 29. Upon reaching the constriction 30, force will move the rod 28 through the constriction into the area 31, where the rapidly moving interior surface -of the sleeve '27, will ,compress or reduce the diameter of the rod 28 and will friotionally burnish the surface areas of `the Vrod 28. The rod 28, by frictional engagement with the constricted area 3l will acquire a smooth, dense, Aburnished s-urface. The rod 23 may be advanced through the hollow shaft 16, which has aninternal diametergreater lthan the internal diameter of the constricted area 31, so that the rod 2S .may freely move through it until it encounters, in reverse order, the opposite sleeve on the other end of the shaft .16. ,The rod will once more enter a burnishing area 3l, and will `be given an additional burnishing. It will emerge beyond the `constriction 30 into the entrance `area Z9, and

nally protrude from the end of .the sleeve 27, -as shown `at theright of AFig-ure 1. Thereupon, the rod '28 may :be

grasped and may be drawn through the rod-finisher.. The rod-"will .be found to have `had its normal temperature somewhat elevated by reason of its frictional encounter `with the burnishing areas v31. While it is still in this heated condition, if there is Va deviation from straightness, the judicious application of pressure may straighten the rod 23. Or if it is desired that the rod 28 be given a certain type of curvature or irregularity, during the period that it is relatively hot from frictional engagement with the burnishing areas 31, it may be bent.

While I have referred to .rods -or shafts vforarrows, it is well to have it understood that the present Yapparatus is primarily designed to serve in thefforming of arrow shafts. But it should be noted that some Ior all of these characteristics are `desirable for numerous .other objects. Indeed the present apparatus may be used to impart to any circular object, a compressed burnished surface which .is relatively smooth, hard, and resistant tothe absorption 4 of liquids. It will also tend to impart a very straight quality to any rods introduced into the structure. While the present apparatus is intended primarily for use on wooden rods, it should be realized that many other kinds of rods may be treated by my machine.

It is preferred that the shaft, the mounting, the adaptor and the sleeves be made of metal. It has been found that a degree of rotation of the order of 3,400 r.p.rn. is quite satisfactory to produce the necessary burnished shaft.

The foregoing description is merely intended to illustrate au embodiment of the invention. The component parts, or steps have been shown and described. They each may have substitutes which may perform a substantially similar function; such substitutes may be known as proper substitutes for the said components or steps, and may have actually been known or invented before the present invention; these substitutes ,are contemplated as being ywithin the scope of the appended claim, .although they are not specifically catalogued herein.

I claim:

A rod-.nisher comprising a mounting means rfor `a tubular shaft, a freely rotatable .tubular shaft on said means, a pulley on the shaft, a means for driving the pulley, a tubular .adaptor attached to the shaft, a tubular sleeve attached to the adaptor and disposed Vin coaxial relation to the shaft, the passage in the tubular sleeve being of a cross-.sectional area less than the cross-sectional area of a rod to be finished.

References Cited 1in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

